Juan is a promising basketball player that shows exceptional skills. He is offered a scholarship to play Division
I ball at State University. He is very excited for the opportunity, as he sees this as his ticket to fame and fortune.
Sometimes when he plays ball he has a hard time catching his breath and has chest pain, but he attributes that
to late night parties. He resolves to get more sleep and party less with his friends. Juan doesn’t mention this to
anyone and has managed to pass the medical tests required for all athletes to play at State. The team plays
very well and by January they are expected to win their conference and qualify for March Madness. After a
monster triple double game Juan tells his coach that he had times on the court where he cannot catch his
breath and feels dizzy. The coach tells him initially to rehydrate and get a good night’s sleep. The next day at
practice Juan feels better but asks to see the team doctor, assuming that the coach spoke to him but he hadn’t.
The team doctor is employed by the university and the associated hospital, The coach sees the doctor with
Juan and at that point he tells the doc to “do the works to make sure Juan is good to go to play tomorrow.” This
was overheard by Juan’s girlfriend Laura. The doctor does a quick examination on Juan. He notices that Juan’s
heartbeat is erratic and draws some blood for some tests. Although he asked for the tests to be completed as
soon as possible he doesn’t follow up with State’s hospital center, which is adjacent to campus. He doesn’t do
any other tests. He hospital lab subsequently misfiles the blood as a standard order and does not complete the
tests for two days. The day after meeting with the doctor Juan’s extended family drives up to watch him play.
During warmups for the game, Juan suffers a cardiovascular event and collapses on the court. Juan’s mother
sees it happen and also requires emergency medical attention.
A. Summary of the main facts of the case.
B. Identification all the potential legal issues (i.e. cause of actions) in the fact pattern,
C. Thesis sentence on the focus of the paper.
II. BODY of the paper.
A. The outline and the paper will address the three main legal issues:
- What is the responsibility of medical doctors in screening student athletes? You are required to use the
article identified in the PDF attached (called “A Legal Perspective on Athlete Screening and Qualification”) as a
reference to address this question. You may also use other sources. - What duty does a doctor owe a patient? I.E. What is negligence? List and define the four elements. Use the
library to identify a peer reviewed article that helps you answer this question. - Is the hospital (employer of the doctor) liable? Use the library to identify a peer reviewed article that helps
you address if a hospital is liable when a medical worker is negligent.
B. What defenses are available to the doctor and the hospital? I.E., what can they argue to defend
themselves?
Sample Solution
